Been ice climbing since February 2003 and I've done a few serious clean aid routes.  I enjoy bouldering, but prefer climbing up.  All of my early outdoor climbing was at Peter's Kill where I've climbed about 50 routes, most on toprope.  These days I consider the Gunks to be my home crag, even though it is three hours from Ithaca (and the weather isn't always ideal).  I've done over 100 climbs at the Gunks -- many more than once, and most on lead.

Climbing has taken me to some of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  Places I might never have seen were it not for my passion to seek out vertical rock faces -- Joshua Tree, the Colorado/Utah desert, the Blue Mountains in Australia, Daniel Boone National Forest, Red Rock Conservation Area, Bugaboo Provincial Park, the Gunks on a brilliant fall day.  Pulling down really hard on crimpers is nice.  But the friends, places, road trips and incredible views are what makes climbing a lifelong passion.

People always ask me to name my favorite climb.  I don't have one favorite, but I can list a few which stand out in my mind:
    Ancient Art (5.11), Fisher Towers
    Birdland (5.8+), Gunks
    Crimson Chrysalis (5.8), Red Rock
    Different Strokes (5.11c), Red River Gorge
    Epinephrine (5.9, IV), Red Rock
    Exasperator (5.10c), Squamish
    Gamesmanship (5.8), Poke-O-Moonshine, Adirondacks
    Independence Monument (5.8+), Colorado National Monument
    Lost Arrow Spire Tip (5.9, C2), Yosemite
    Margarine Ridge (13, IV), Blue Mountains, Australia 
    Mate, Spawn and Die (WI5), Salmon River Falls
    McTech Arete (5.10), Bugaboos
    Modern Times (5.8+), Gunks
    Petit Grepon (5.8), Rocky Mountain National Park
    Rewritten (5.7+), Eldorado Canyon
    Son of Easy O (5.8), Gunks

There is a second tier which will take your breath away nearly as well as the climbs listed above.  Certainly you shouldn't pass on an opportunity to climb them:
    Avalanche Gulch (non-technical), Mt. Shasta
    Black Crack (5.9), Annapolis Rocks
    Black Orpheus (5.9+, IV), Red Rock
    Bolt and Run (5.9), Rumney
    Bugaboo Spire, NE Ridge (5.8, IV), Bugaboos
    Castleton Tower, North Chimney (5.9), Castle Valley
    Cathedral Peak, SE Buttress (5.6), Yosemite
    CCK Direct (5.9), Gunks
    Directissima (5.9), Gunks
    Durrance (5.7), Devil's Tower
    Ecstasy (5.7), Seneca Rocks
    Electric Boobs (5.9+), Stone Mountain, NC
    Empor (5.7+), Cob Rock, Boulder Canyon
    Excellent Smithers (5.10a), Medlicott Dome, Yosemite
    Fairview Dome, Regular Route (5.9), Yosemite
    Fealine (5.11b), Rifle
    First Flatiron, Direct Route (5.6R), Boulder Colorado
    Five Gallon Buckets (5.8), Smith Rock
    Gettin' Lucky in Kentucky (5.10b), Red River Gorge
    Gridlock (5.11a), Red Rock
    J Crack (5.9), Lumpy Ridge
    Junco (5.8+), Rumney
    Kansas City (5.7, C1), Gunks
    La Presa (5.11b), El Potrero Chico
    Lonesome Dove (5.10a), Rumney
    Monaco (5.11b), Joshua Tree
    Montezuma's Tower (5.7), Garden of the Gods
    Never Never Land (5.10a), Gunks
    Playing Hooky (WI4+), Six Mile Creek
    Reach Around (5.7), Peter's Kill
    Retribution (5.10b), Gunks
    Rhodian Shores (5.10b), The Bihedrals, Boulder Canyon
    Rico Suave (5.10a), New River Gorge
    Ruper (5.8+), Eldorado Canyon
    Serpent (5.10b), Red River Gorge
    Shockley's Ceiling (5.6), Gunks
    Snake Dike (5.7), Yosemite
    Space Boyz (5.10d), El Potrero Chico
    The Heavy Hitter (5.10c), Red Rock
    The Kid (5.10a R), Joshua Tree
    The Sting (5.8), Poke-O-Moonshine, Adirondacks
    Three Doves (5.8+), Gunks
    Triassic Sands (5.10c), Red Rock
    Twilight Zone (5.4, C2), Gunks
    Vanderholics (18), Nowra, Australia
    Washington Column, South Face (5.8, C1, V), Yosemite
    West Ridge of Mt. Conness (5.6), Yosemite
    Whitney Gilman (5.7), Cannon
    Yellow Spur (5.10a), Eldorado Canyon

At 2200', Epinephrine is the tallest climb I've ever done.  Close behind are the NE Ridge of Bugaboo Spire (1600' of climbing and 700' of scrambling, all in alpine conditions) and Black Orpheus (1500' of climbing and 600' of scrambling).  Mt. Conness requires 2500' of climbing and scrambling to ascend nearly 1500 vertical feet.  Solar Slab is 1500' if you include the approach pitches and we hit the summit at 10:30am.  At El Potrero Chico I did a bunch of tall climbs: Space Boyz 1100', Yankee Clipper 1300' and Time Wave Zero (to p16) 1500'.  Other climbs over 1000' include the South Face of Washington Column at 1200', First Flatiron with 1200' of climbing (900' of vertical and 300' along a ridge), Margarine Ridge with over 1100' of vertical,  Petit Grepon with over 1000' of technical climbing in alpine conditions, Crimson Chrysalis around 1000', Snake Dike with 1000' of climbing and another 1000' of scrambling, and Fairview Dome with around 1000' of climbing.  The summit of Mt. Shasta is the highest point I've reached at 14,162' -- started at 6880' and spent all day scrambling with ice axe and crampons up the Avalanche Gulch route which is non-technical (i.e. no ropes required).  The South Face of Washington Column is my one and only big wall (Grade V) climb.  Black Orpheus, Epinephrine, Margarine Ridge, and NE Ridge of Bugaboo are the four Grade IV climbs I've done.  Time Wave Zero is also Grade IV, but I only made it to pitch 16.  I've twice spent the night deliberately on the cliff -- on the South Face of Washington Column and on the top of Castleton.  One miserable, windy, cold night was spent accidentally (though not totally unexpectedly) at the top of Black Velvet after climbing Epinephrine.

Mostly I consider myself a 5.10 leader.  Though I have led a bunch of 5.11 climbs -- Different Strokes, Random Precision, Critters on the Cliff (onsight) and Johnny B. Good at Red River Gorge; Ancient Art at Fisher Towers; Caustic and Gridlock at Red Rock; Chicks in the Woods at New River Gorge; Fealine and Ivory Tower at Rifle; Monaco at Joshua Tree; Three Easy Pieces at Rumney; Super Nova (p1, onsight) and La Presa at El Potrero Chico.  My hardest Gunks leads are Criss Cross Direct, MF (first pitch direct), Never Never Land, P38 and Retribution all 5.10a and 5.10b climbs.

One more list, then I'm done.  Promise.  The final list are the climbs I've done from Gary and Lynn Clark's North American Classics.  I'm not trying to do every climb on the list, but it would be cool to climb all which are within my ability.  So far I've climbed eighteen: Ancient Art, NE Ridge of Bugaboo Spire, Castleton (S. Face is on the list, I climbed N. Chimney), Cathedral Peak, Crimson Chrysalis, Durrance on Devil's Tower, Epinephrine, Fairview Dome, Flatirons (Third is on the list, I climbed the First), Mt. Conness, Snake Dike on Half Dome, Lost Arrow Spire, Petit Grepon, Prince of Darkness, South Face of Washington Column,  Space Boyz, Whitney Gilman, and Yellow Spur.

Climbing is dangerous.  Driving is more dangerous.  I climb (and drive) in as safe a manner as I am able, but there are subjective and objective hazards.  I accept that risk because I want my life to be something more than long.

The secret of the Kiwi is that he represents all of us.  We all come to the same end.  Some of us are lucky enough to enjoy the journey.